Senior Living
The Times - Delivering Your Community
Jeff Wheeler | Minneapolis Star Tribune | TNS
Ruth Fingerson demonstrates a time travel concept by folding a piece of paper during the discussion of “A Wrinkle in Time” during a book club gathering at The Summit in Eden Prairie, Minn.
Book clubs: A stress reliever for some From page 4 While reading is a solitary activity, it’s one that challenges the mind — another key to aging well. Taking part in group discussions, in which participants are listening to other people’s thoughts and ideas, also sharpens the mind. “It’s that stretching of the brain that keeps it young,” Romstad said. The senior book clubs have featured all kinds of books, including a few, such as “A Wrinkle in Time,” that were once widely banned. The most popular book titles have included: “I Am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai, “The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough and “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman. And while the libraries offer fiction and nonfiction books to the clubs, they have noticed a clear preference from the group members. “We continually hear from our readers that they want more nonfiction,” Woodwick said. More than 200 people have been served by the senior book clubs since 2015, when a grant from the Friends of Hennepin County Library and Allianz Life made it possible for the library to buy the book club kits. Back at Summit Place, Sjoberg asked the women about time travel — a concept explored in “A Wrinkle in Time.” “If you had the opportunity to time-travel, would you?”
she asked. “If you have to go through the airports, then no,” said Bev Folkestad, 83, whose answer elicited laughter from around the room. Connie Magoffin was up for it. “I definitely would time-travel,” she said, “but I don’t know which time period I’d visit ... maybe the future?” Members of the Summit Place book club said participating in the every-other-month discussions gives them something enjoyable to do, and something to look forward to. “The kinds of people who would want to join a book club are my kind of people,” said Fingerson, for whom this is the first time belonging to a formal book club, although she’s been an avid reader all her life. “I like to be challenged, to have new things to think about and new books to read.” She stays active in other ways, doing swimming pool exercises a couple of times a week and attending the communal dinners. But the book club offers rigorous intellectual stimulation. “You never know what ideas are going to come popping out of the minds of these people — they are all smart people,” she said. The club provides another benefit for Fingerson, who is a caregiver for her husband, who has Parkinson’s disease. “It gets me thinking about other things. It’s a stress reliever.”
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